Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion New Book on Hiking Mt. Whitney

I'm a long-time member of this board but an infrequent poster. I hope it's okay if I mention that my new book, How to Fail at Hiking Mt. Whitney, went live at Amazon Kindle today.

My "angle" is that other books tell you in a positive, direct way how to hike Mt. Whitney, but often we learn best from failures, our own and other people's.

Topics include how to maximize one's chances of getting a permit, what gear to get and what gear to avoid, how not to over-prepare physically for the hike, how not to lose out to altitude or weather, and other things.

The final chapter is about shortcuts. A Bob Rockwell story is recounted there.

This is the second book in a four-book set, but it's the first to be published because the lottery window opens February 1. The later titles, which should appear by the end of March, are How to Fail at Backpacking, How to Fail at Hiking Yosemite, and How to Fail at Hiking Grand Canyon.

Karl Keating

[img]https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM8L1auc1E9x7qyhX8mndeLoh2T-vm0HCW1xiS2[/img]

Congratulations and good luck, Karl.

Here's a link to your Kindle book:
How to Fail at Hiking Mt. Whitney

Book image:


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By the way...
We can't see the picture in your post above Browser screen says:Is it pic of the book or what?

btw, congrats on your second post in six years!

Thanks, Steve. As I said, I'm an infrequent poster. Two posts in six years does count as infrequent, I think!

(Some of us prefer to look rather than talk: we were the kids who stood at the sides during the junior high dances.)

Thanks for sharing the information in the book. I have both the Kindle and Paperback editions.

I am very interested in the shortcuts. I have found the Old Mount Whitney Trail Head and trail on Open Street Maps version of the Whitney Trail. And I have a good idea of the start and end points of the short cut near Lone Pine Lake from the description in the book.

Are there gpx files for these shortcuts or are they shown on any other maps either electronic or paper? Or are there gps location coordinates which could be used to create waypoints on electronic maps? I would like to import these gpx files (if the exist) into My Garmin 66sr.

We are planning to attempt to climb Mount Whitney starting on Tuesday August 1 of this year - 2023. We have an overnight permit and plan on hiking to the Consultation Lake area and set up a base camp. Possibly take a day to acclimatize and then attempt the summit. Hopefully most of the snow will have melted by then.

Thanks

GPS signal down in the Whitney Portal canyon area is terrible, because of the high mountains and cliffs on both sides. GPS locations require multiple satellites to triangulate your location, but when they are out of the sky view, you won't get a good location. So forget the gpx tracks. You will need to work at reading the locations on the topographic maps.

I don't think I have ever had an issue with GPS signal anywhere near Whitney the few times I have been there. Generally only time I have issue with GPS losing signal is in canyons that are much taller than they are wide, like slot canyons almost, pretty extreme and uncommon places.